President's Remarks Following Safety Roundtable
Remarks by the President After Roundtable at Center for Community Safety
Center for Community Safety
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

2:47 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Listen, I want to thank you very
much. Mr. Mayor, thanks a lot. I'm honored to be
here with the Chief of the Fire Department and the Chief of the Police
Department, and other citizens concerned about the safety of
Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

We're here because this community has figured out a while ago that
there needs to be a collaborative effort amongst providers to provide
an emergency response plan in case something were to
happen. I'm here to highlight the success of this
community. I'm here to highlight the fact that we've got
people from different jurisdictions sitting down to develop a strategy
response in case something were to happen.

Last night I talked about the need for this country to have a
strong homeland security strategy. It starts at the local
level. And so part of our plan to make sure the country is
more secure is to encourage cities and counties to develop a homeland
defense strategy for their area, similar to what is taking place here
in Winston-Salem.

So I'm here to congratulate you all and herald a fine collaborative
effort. One of the interesting by-products of planning for a
disaster and working with the federal government when it comes to
homeland security is your community will be strong before and
afterwards; that there will be a better health care system afterwards,
safer neighborhoods afterwards.

And I want to again thank you for your hospitality. It's
good to be in the great state of North Carolina. And I'm
glad to show off to the nation what is possible when people of goodwill
and good heart get together and say, I'm going to do my job in a
collaborative effort to make my community safer.